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-- © GodSpeak International 2004 --
-- Do not republish without written permission from <copyright@godspeak.org> --
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS AND CONTRIBUTING RESOURCES
Author: Teresa Seputis <ts@godspeak.net> http://www.godspeak.net
Editor: Kevin Nolan

Ministry Team Training

by Teresa Seputis

Lesson 3
Practical Guidelines For Ministry Team Members

If you serve on a ministry team, there are some important guidelines that you must keep in mind.

1. MINISTER IN LOVE

First and foremost, you must always minister in love. Your motivation to minister should not be to try and prove yourself or to impress people. You should be motivated by the same thing that Jesus was motivated by. The Bible tells us that He was moved by compassion, so He healed the sick. Always be mindful that God loves the person you are praying for, and you are operating as His representative to them.

And because we are ministering in love, we don't want to do anything to embarrass the person or to make them feel small or bad. If you think the person is in overt sin and needs a rebuke, allow that rebuke to come from their pastor -- it is not your place, as a member of a ministry team, to rebuke the person. In fact, if you do prophetic ministry on the team, you should never give a rebuking or corrective word. And you should not give any sort of directive words unless you have been explicitly released by the team leadership to do so. If you are ministering to someone and you believe you are getting a corrective or rebuking word for them, then you should go privately to the leader of the team and run it by them before you even consider delivering it to the person.

Along the same lines, you should never condemn the person or put them down or make them feel small or embarrassed. Do not act as if you disapprove of them. Always treat the person with kindness and with respect.

2. BE PROFESSIONAL AS YOU MINISTER

When you minister to a person, give that person your full attention. Don't look around the room to see what else is going on, don't look at others instead of the person you are ministering to and don't allow yourself to become distracted by other things going on in the ministry area. The person who you are praying for is the most important person in the room at that moment. So do not accidentally communicate to them that they are "not important" by putting your attention elsewhere.

Also, never act surprised at anything they tell you. Sometimes when God moves on people they will confess deep struggles or sins. Do not judge them, simply minister to them. If they confess and repent of a given sin, be sure to pronounce God's forgiveness on them. We actually have authority to release forgiveness on God's behalf, as per John 20:23, which says, "If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained."

Remember that anything shared with you during ministry is confidential and is not to be shared with anyone else. There are a few legal and moral exceptions to this, where you need to talk to the pastor (and preferably get the person to go with you). These include:

Also, your own physical appearance and grooming must be appropriate for the ministry setting. What is appropriate dress varies from meeting to meeting. Some churches dress casually and are quite informal. Other churches would consider it a sign of disrespect to God if a person ministering was to dress casually. When I travel overseas, the clothing is even more restrictive. For instance, in countries like India, it would be totally inappropriate for a woman to wear slacks or a pants suit. In Nigeria, it would be inappropriate for a woman to minister without her head covered. When I was at a renewal meeting in Moscow, there were "bodies everywhere" as people were slain in the Spirit, and the ministry team had to literally step over people to move to some of the people waiting for prayer. In that setting, it would have been inappropriate for me to wear a dress, as I would be stepping over people's heads and I might give them a "peep show" if they happened to open their eyes as I passed by.

You need to find out what is considered appropriate dress for the given ministry environment and dress accordingly. In addition, your clothing should always be clean and modest. Women, you must be sure to dress in a way that will not cause problems for any men who are struggling with lust, pornography addiction, etc.

Be sure to pay attention to the little things of personal grooming, like breath mints and deodorant. These may sound trivial, but bad breath or body odor can make it difficult for a person to receive from the Lord.

I remember one time when I was on a ministry team for a conference with a big name speaker, who traveled with his own team of five or six people. They would pick up a local team of about 20 church leaders to join them as part of their ministry team for their conference. I was one of the local church leaders serving on their ministry team. They had us all come before the meeting to receive prayer for impartation and anointing from their team. Unfortunately, their team had been out for lunch just before they prayed for us and did not get a chance to brush their teeth. Apparently the person who prayed for me really liked garlic, and it gave him bad breath. The smell was so strong and so unpleasant that I could not pay attention to what he was praying for me. The smell was so repugnant that I could hardly stand it. I endured it for a bit, but I could not get into a receptive place because the odor was so distracting. I finally "faked" being slain in the spirit just to get away from the smell.

Don't do that to anyone -- it is awful to be prayed for by someone who smells really bad! So make sure you are bathed and have used your deodorant. I recommend that you keep some breath mints on you and use one just before you start to pray for people.

3. PRAY WITH AUTHORITY/ANOINTING, NOT WITH HYPE

When you pray for someone, pray in Christ's authority. This authority is already purchased on Calvary and you cannot increase it by hype or by manipulating peoples' emotions. So don't try to work the person up into some type of frenzy or emotional state. Your job is to pray and God's job is to meet the person. The less you "hype," the more you will see the power of God released.

On the other hand, if the person comes to you with their emotions already engaged, don't try to shut them down. The emotions may be a byproduct of the Holy Spirit moving in their heart or on their physical bodies. As long as you did not do something to manipulate the emotions and they are not interfering with the person's ability to receive prayer, then don't discourage their emotions. The power of God will still work even when the person you are praying for is stirred up emotionally as long as no one is trying to manipulate their emotions.

4. FALLING AND CATCHERS

Never push a person down or try to manipulate their body into some response. Some of the most powerful healings I have ever seen had come without the person being slain in the spirit. Conversely, I have seen some people receive prayer and have physical manifestations, but no permanent effect on them. In other words, it is possible to have physical manifestations such as falling, shaking, bowing, laughing, crying, and still not have any lasting physical or emotional or spiritual healing. Our goal in ministry should never be to have the person experience physical manifestations. If a physical manifestation comes as God is touching or healing a person, that is okay. We don't forbid them, we simply don't encourage them.

However, if you are in a location where some people fall down when they are prayed for, you should make allowances for this. Provide a safe environment so that if a person falls simply because they think they are supposed to fall, they won't be hurt. Pray with a catcher or get the person in a safe position (sitting down, kneeling, etc.) if it looks like they may fall.

5. PAY ATTENTION TO WHAT IS GOING ON DURING MINISTRY

You have to pay attention to what is going on both in the Spirit and in the natural. Be sure to ask God to show you what He is doing so that you might do it with Him. Listen to God for further direction the whole time you are ministering.

Also pay attention to the person you are praying for. Keep your eyes open while ministering and watch for visible evidences of the Lord moving on the person.


-- © GodSpeak International 2004 --
-- Do not republish without written permission from <godspeak@godspeak.org> --

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